Native Concept
by 3-points-P
Summary: A Scryed fic ... rescued from the bowels of the Misc section because there were at the time only two Scryed fics out there RyuhouKazuma
1. Default Chapter

Title: Native Concept  
Series: s.CRY.ed (Scryed)  
Notes: Your honor, I'd like to say in my defense that I was railroaded into this. The culprits know who they are Anyway, this is a Ryuhou/Kazuma fic which means SLASH YAOI ... all kinds of good stuff. I think you should be able to decide whether or not you can handle that neh? 

Chapter 1: Obey

Her French was getting better. She had a very fine, subtle accent-- hardly detectable when she was speaking carefully. They say the French don't care what you say as long as you pronounce it correctly, he could probably vouch for that. He had a heavy and obvious accent; French words were still difficult and frustrating to him. The phonetics were so different from his native Japanese and he had yet-- and perhaps never would-- to pick up the finer points of the language. People sneered at him every where, highly insulted every time he opened his mouth and mutilated their beautiful language. But he didn't really care, at least not enough to disturb the peace she has found here. He was used to people looking down on him, he's used to people sneering it him. He's not used to speaking and having people unable to understand him, or unwilling to try, and that's a new pain he'd have to grow accustomed to.

He works odd jobs around the small town where they have settled down. Kanami likes small towns. She likes to get to know everyone intimately and be social and communal with the people that live around them. As usual everyone adored her and welcomed her into their homes and families. Also as usual, everyone thinks she is such a saint for opening her heart to the gruff, good-for-nothing, troublesome man who spoke such horrible French.

But it's not Japan... As much as Kazuma hated it here, as much as he was not accepted and perhaps never would be. It's not Japan. It's not the Lost Ground and it's certainly not the mainland. That alone makes it so much better than his other options.

"Kazu-kun," she called. He could see her clearly from where he stood on the roof as he was trying to repair the water damage their home endured. The work was just as frustrating as the fight against the incomprehensible language. For a moment he considered pretending he couldn't hear her, if only because she insists-- aside from the nickname he despises-- on speaking to him exclusively in French and his inability to answer her back with any clarity embarrasses him. The embarrassment leads to anger ... and he didn't want to make her upset by snapping at her.

"Yo," he growled, drawing her attention up to him. "What's wrong?"

She smiled and gently nudged him with her words, "dinner is ready." She wanted him to try, she says that she knows he can do it if he just tries his best ... she believes he can. It's not _Doshita?_ it's _Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas?_.

He frowned and murmured a thank you in the language she was favoring. The language barrier only served to make him more laconic than before. He had never been one for words over actions, but now it seemed that they offered him nothing but rejection and more scorn from the population.

Kazuma sat back a little, wiping the sweat away from his forehead as he tried to finish up what was left of the job. The work here was hard and it was not the kind he preferred. Labor like this made him feel dead, like stagnate water in a pond. Eagerly he waits for someone or something to send ripples through the pond and make him feel alive again.

He knew he shouldn't wish for this. They had a good life here as far away from the Lost Ground as they could get. They are safe, they have security, they have food and shelter and good odds that neither will be snapped up in a moment, they have the best quality of life they have ever had ... why should he become so excited at the thought of ruining that?

The only answer he could come up with is that he really is a horrible person, but Kanami doesn't believe there's any truth to that. She tells him that there are other ways to fight in life.

He wants to believe her ... but he just couldn't find the same passion pounding nails into wayward shingles and wrestling with French that he did with the Shell Bullet.

Kazuma pressed his hand down a bit and gently fused the nails in place. He promised Kanami no more Alter ability, but this doesn't count does it? It's just a little Alter use ... certainly not enough for any trouble.

Besides, he's no handy man, if he had to rely on trades alone this house would have fallen down around them a long time ago.

He smiled and turned to make his way back down the ladder, and it's like this-- standing on the roof of his home, carrying the sun heavily on his back, high above all other things-- that he saw the man standing at their gate, one hand grasping a dull wooden picket, looking up at him.

It's not as easy to spot a foreigner in France as it is to spot one in Japan. People here look so different and vary so much. The features of the man suggested deep Asian roots, but that's not how Kazuma knew this was not an ordinary Frenchmen staring.

He knew because it was Ryuhou at his gate.

At first all Kazuma could do was stare back. So many feelings bubbled up inside of him at once he didn't know what he should do. There was instant and recognizable anger, maybe not enough to make him bring out his alter and pounce as he would have years ago, but still ... hot burning anger. Only Ryuhou could inspire that in him without cause. Even if by all logic the man should be more his ally, but he could never convince himself of that.

However, there's also longing. Not longing for Ryuhou himself, but for the situation they once had ... that time a few years ago when Kazuma felt most alive. Even in the mists of incredible suffering, the excitement of fighting with everything he had was intoxicating. He lusted for it.

Kazuma managed to convince himself that the first thing to do in any case is to get off the roof. He decided to forego the ladder altogether and just jumped, landing soundly on his feet, little worse for wear. Although his knees protested a bit at the unnecessary shock, the ladder would have taken too long. Somehow, though he and Ryuhou have little reason to be enemies anymore, he's always felt like he had to be ready for an attack. The thought of turning his back to slowly work his way down a ladder seemed reckless.

Without even a greeting Ryuhou held up a small plastic computer disk and glared.

Kazuma laughed, the man's distaste for him had not changed at all. "Took you this long to figure it out eh?"

"No," Ryuhou corrected. "It took me this long to find you."

"I made a point of making it impossible for anyone from Japan to track us down ... I hope you didn't leave a mile wide trail behind you when you came here."

"I cleaned up after myself, yes. I also took the liberty of tying up some of _your_ loose ends."

Kazuma snorted. Of course he wasn't about to deny that his cover up job had been less than perfect-- he did not have resources like Ryuhou did-- but he figured the destruction and confusion that consumed all of Japan before they left made their tracks harder to find. "We don't want any trouble."

So he lied. He did want trouble, but his conscience would not let him risk Kanami's happiness.

"I don't want to bring Kanami any problems."

Not surprising. He didn't care if Kazuma got run over by two or three tanks that might have followed him here, but he didn't want Kanami to get caught up in it. Well he suppose that was a comfort, Kazuma didn't care for himself either.

"Well then you'll be leaving."

Ryuhou pushed the gate open and let himself into their yard before reaching out and grabbing Kazuma roughly by the shoulder as he tried to move away. Kazuma didn't knock him back as he might have years ago for the touch, but he raised an eyebrow at the intrusion. "I don't recall inviting you in Ryuhou."

"Where is it? Just tell me and I'll be on my way."

"Che, you'll be on your way now."

The years had not improved Ryuhou's temper any; he grabbed Kazuma's collar and pulled him forcefully towards him when the other man tried to walk on. "Listen, I didn't work for two years to hunt you down just to deal with your cocky bullshit. Now, where is it?"

Kazuma was definitively disinterested, verging on downright apathetic. Where as once he would have punched Ryuhou right in the face for even looking at him wrong, now he seemed somewhat disappointed that Ryuhou wanted to play nice and leave them in peace. "I forget," Kazuma drawled.

The dark haired man sighed, even in frustration his features were elegant and refined. His manner was too controlled for Kazuma's liking, and his mind kept being drawn back to the memory of those few fleeting moments where he had been able to knock Ryuhou from his pedestal and drive him to the depths of a barbaric, tyrannical madness. He did not pride himself in the consequences of it that had befallen them, but he still found enjoyment in getting under Ryuhou's skin.

The man seemed inhuman far too often. Kazuma wanted to see the Ryuhou buried under all that law and civil order. Occasionally he got a peak at it, but not enough to satisfy him.

Ryuhou dropped him. If he had learned anything it was that Kazuma was not going to respond to force. The man was stubborn to the point of stupidity and the more authority one threw in his face, the more he resisted giving in. "Do we have to go through this again?"

_It is a common held fact that the form of an Alter User's Alter reflects their personality and thinking. So then it's really no surprise that Kazuma's Alter is a solid metallic claw. The Shell Bullet, or so he calls it, is a simple and obnoxiously persistent weapon. There is no strategy to it, no method to its use, no versatility in its design. He releases a bullet to give his attack the required force and punches his target. Should they evade the attack or defend themselves, he simply hits harder. _

_The Shell Bullet only has three bullets and Ryuhou was almost curious as to what Kazuma would do if a fight ever out lived his anmo. _

_Almost ... and perhaps if Kazuma wasn't a constant destructive pest Ryuhou might have been sincerely curious. But he hated him too much to care about anything like that. _

_The Shell Bullet was the weapon of a wild and violent vermin. It could serve no purpose other than to destroy everything in its path. Yes, this man who called himself Kazuma was wild, useless ... like an animal but without the dignity of an animal. Animals are at least logical, they hunt, they stalk, they have a definitely goal in mind. Ryuhou could respect that, but not this. Kazuma wasn't just rebellious, he was caustic. _

_"Where's the disk?" _

_He had only seen Kazuma without his Alter a handful of times, and rarely this close. His first assessment of the man had not been flattering, and when Kazuma proved to be a little more than the lowly, pathetic Native Alter he had assumed he was ... Ryuhou had wondered if perhaps he had missed something in his beaten and nearly broken body. _

_But no, despite relying on his brute strength to use his Alter, the real Kazuma was quite scrawny. Even that arm which he routinely butchered to form the Shell Bullet hardly had enough muscle to make him an effective fighter. Strength could be deceptive, hiding its self in the most unlikely of places and the most pathetic of forms, but Ryuhou was having no problem keeping Kazuma pinned to the wall. _

_Of course restraining the Native with his own body could quickly become a fatal mistake if Kazuma took out his Alter. Despite the inherent inferiority of The Shell Bullet it would have no problem ripping off his arm. _

_Fortunately it didn't seem that Kazuma intended to form his Alter as long as Ryuhou didn't take out his own. Unusual for Kazuma who seemed so satisfied with living only to fight, obviously he had some invested interest in not destroying the building they were in. Perhaps this was his home, even the most ruthless of animals are protective of their dens. To Ryuhou this place was nothing but a ruin of a public building in a town that had been swallowed up by the desert and wasteland of the Lost Ground, a school ... or perhaps a hospital-- it was difficult to tell-- practically falling apart and not worth the time to be conscious of it's preservation. But it was obvious from the various artifacts organized neatly and homely, and the shabby mattresses left on the floor, that someone had been living here. _

_Kazuma didn't strike him as the type to hold on to anything ... but perhaps there was something or someone of sentimental value here that the Native Alter was protecting by avoiding fighting with him. _

_Well, all the better for Ryuhou. Kazuma was nothing more than a nuisance that he could crash easily if his orders permitted such a thing. But no ... HOLY did not allow the execution of even the most dangerous Native Alter criminals. _

_"Find it yourself," the other man spat back. He was struggling, but probably not trying his hardest to escape. He was buying his time, trying to give his accomplices and associates time to reach safety? Perhaps, but it was of no matter ... at the moment Ryuhou was only here for one thing. _

_He raised his free hand, "if we can't recover that information I'll hold you personally responsible." _

_Kazuma wasn't the slightest bit threatened, if anything he seemed to prefer the seething hatred Ryuhou held for him. He lashed out in about the only way he could, sharp and painfully. _

_The HOLY officer didn't recoil far enough from being bitten to give Kazuma a chance to escape, but it certainly made him angry and that was a reward unto itself. The bitten hand grabbed a fist full of Kazuma's dark reddish hair and slammed his head against the wall-- not hard enough to injure, just hard enough to make a point about who was in control here. His knee came up sharply and knocked the wind out off the Native Alter's lungs, leaving Kazuma's body weak and struggling for breath. _

_"Now ... the disk." _

_Kazuma laughed weakly, "Idiot ... you're wasting your time, stealing the damn thing wasn't my part of the job." _

_Ryuhou knew as much, someone of Kazuma's personality couldn't be useful for anything more than causing chaos. "So you're saying you don't know?" _

_"Not that I'd tell you if I did." _

_"Who hired you?" _

_"Don't know that either," Kazuma grinned. He was mocking him, but given the urgency of the situation Ryuhou didn't have time to teach Kazuma better manners. _

_"I don't believe you," he hissed, his grip tightening on Kazuma hair. _

_"Heh, too bad for you then. I have an agent who finds the jobs, I don't know who's paying. Nor do I care." _

_"I want this agent's name, or don't you know that either?" _

_The throaty noise could have been a chuckle, but it was too soft and pained to tell for sure. "If you think for a moment I'd tell you that, you really are stupid." _

_Kazuma looked him in face to face, his bright gold eyes burning with excitement-- the kind of lust for battle and destruction Ryuhou had only seen at this intensity in the one before him. The gesture was clear, this interrogation was to continue with Alters. Kazuma was not going to give up his connections, nor was he going to endure any punishment without a fight. _

_So be it... _

_Ryuhou began to pull away to form his own Alter when his radio went off. Such an inopportune time for HOLY headquarters to try to contact him. _

_They were silent for a moment, Ryuhou trying to decide whether he could trust such a monster like Kazuma to not attack and unarmed opponent. He had seen the man hold a restrain against a weaker attacker and that could be construed into some bizarre sense of honor, but he has also known him to be ruthless and attack at any available opening. _

_Kazuma's eyes glanced at the radio strapped to Ryuhou's hip. He clicked his tongue in an almost cocky and amused gesture. "You going to get that or you going to stay and fight with me?" _

_It only took a quick, graceful moment to knock Kazuma's feet out from under him and let him fall unceremoniously to the ground. "I'll come back for you.." _

_Kazuma sighed as he leaned his back up against the wall. He was a little sore, but otherwise remarkably unharmed for an encounter with the HOLY officer. Normally every meeting lead to a fight and they both ended up at least a little bloody, their dispute having yet to be concluded with a definite loss for either one of them. He inhaled sharply, cherishing the cold air flooding his lungs with a new found appreciation for the simple action of breathing alone. "Asshole," he muttered. _

_"Who was that?" Kanami poked her head out from the stairwell. He would have to send Ryuhou's superior at HOLY a thank you card, he doubted he could have fought Ryuhou's Zetsuei and kept the building from caving in on top of Kanami at the same time. _

_"No one important." _

_She frowned, "you're not in trouble are you Kazu-kun?" _

_He really hated lying to her, but the truth was the less she knew about the way he earned money, the better. "No of course not. But you know those bastards at HOLD don't care to make nice with the locals." _

_Kanami looked out the door that Ryuhou had left from, as if she was tracing the path of his memory. "What did he want?" _

_"Just some information on a robbery." _

_"What did you tell him?" _

_"Nothing, I didn't know anything." He threw his arms back behind his head and winked at her. He was hoping to look casual enough to convince her that Ryuhou's little visit had just been a routine patrol, even if HOLD's presence in this part of the Lost Ground wasn't strong enough to make that very plausible. _

_If she questioned his story in her mind, she did not speak these concerns. She remained quietly reflective for a few more moments, knowing that even if she knew the worse she could do little to help him in this. "Will you come to work tomorrow?" _

_"Of course I'll be there," he grinned, still trying to set her mind at ease. _

_"You said that yesterday too," she pointed out. "Then you disappeared last night with Kimishima-san." _

_"Well today I mean it, I'll definitely be there." _

_He rubbed the back of his neck, scratching the raised bumps of skin just below his skull. His fingers traced the letters 'NP3228' masochistically. Kazuma had thought about finding some way to remove the tattoo a few times before. It was tricky since it was burned on to his skin with a technique specifically designed to brand Criminal Alter Users, but Kimishima had seemed optimistic about finding someone who could do it. _

_In the end though, he always came to the same conclusion ... and that was to keep it. True it was the label HOLY had given him, an empty serial number that meant to them he was just a thing ... a piece of shit without an identity or a name. Just NP3228, easily confused with NP3282 or NP2238 ... or a dozen other individuals that HOLY thought were exactly like him. To HOLY all Native Alters were the same. _

_And when he thought about that he wanted to scratch the tattoo out with his bare hands. No matter what the tyrannical hand of HOLD did in the future they couldn't take away his identity. They couldn't make him be NP3228... _

_However, in a strange way the mark was also a badge of pride. It was a tattoo given only to Native Alter criminals once they were captured by HOLY and sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment and slave labor. No one escape HOLY once they were caught, no one. _

_Except Kazuma. _

_He had become a bit of a legend in the Lost Ground since then. The Native Alter who had smashed his way straight out of the heart of HOLY headquarters. The tattoo was proof of who he was, NP3228 ... Kazuma the Shell Bullet. By itself it was a significant point of pride, together with his history of encounters with both HOLD and HOLY since then it was almost an honor. _

_So in a way it was a double edged sword, it disregarded his identity but it also exulted it. _

_He stared vacantly at the trail of hostility Ryuhou had left in his wake, literally hanging in the air like a bad stench. Although he hated exposing Kanami to even a hint of his dark abnormality, he could not help smiling. If he had no other victories over the other man he had at least made him learn his name. He had made Ryuhou know him through hate. He had ceased to be as simple and faceless as 'NP3228' to that man a long time ago. He was somebody to him, an enemy ... no not just an enemy, the greatest of enemies. _

_Couldn't say he'd have it any other way himself._


	2. Play Nice

Title: Native Concept.  
Chapter 2: Play Nice 

"Ryuhou-san!"

Crap ... well there was no shaking him now. Kazuma knew that once Kanami saw the former HOLY officer again, she would invite him in and throw the full force of her hospitality at him. And with a welcoming presence, he really wasn't going to leave until he got what he came for.

"Hello Kanami."

"You're just in time for dinner," she beamed and ushered him in. Her alter abilities were apparently very selective at times, even with Kazuma's every thought broadcasting his wish that Ryuhou would just leave she didn't seem to pick up on any reason why she shouldn't welcome him into their home. She had always thought that he and Ryuhou should be friends, she probably convinced herself that this was for his own good.

"Do you like green beans, Ryuhou-san?" Her Japanese had an natural elegant form and it was clear to everyone-- no matter how good her French got-- that this was her native language. As she dragged another chair to the small table Kazuma settled down into his own seat, at least he wouldn't have to feel like he was being tested at dinner tonight.

"Aa, that's fine."

"It's nothing fancy," she warned as she set out the dishes. "But it's good, healthy food."

"It's fine," he smiled warmly at her. "You've made delicious dishes out of much lower quality ingredients in the past, I'm sure what you've prepared is wonderful."

Kazuma was sulking and pushing his rice around the plate. Why did he have to put up with this? He knew that Ryuhou had better manners, more refine tastes, and that Kanami or any other sensible women would prefer his company to Kazuma's, but still ... why did it have to be thrown in his face?

"Kazu-kun, get the salt please?"

He frowned, she was speaking to him in _French_ on top of everything else. Couldn't he escape the inadequacies and self esteem issues that came along with the language for one night? He pointed at Ryuhou accusingly and said "you speak to him in Japanese!"

"Ryuhou-san is a guest," Kanami she said, again in French.

"And isn't it rude to converse in a language he doesn't understand right in front of him?"

"I don't mind."

Kazuma blinked, the words Ryuhou had spoken were not ... of course Ryuhou spoke perfect French. Perfect infliction, not a hint of accent ... life was just cruel and unfair like that.

Kanami was thrilled, "you know French, Ryuhou-san?"

"Aa, I was taught it as a boy."

"Then ... would you mind terribly if we do not use Japanese?"

Ryuhou shrugged, "not at all."

Life was just terribly, terribly unfair. Not only did he have to feel like an idiot, but now he had to feel like an idiot in front of Ryuhou who undoubtedly used it to reinforce his arrogant, superior attitude.

Kanami as usual, was cheerfully oblivious to any reason why this collection of facts should humiliate Kazuma. "Kazu-kun?"

Right ... the salt.

As if he didn't have enough reasons to hate Ryuhou. If Kanami wasn't here he'd--

"Kazu-kun is having trouble with it, he thinks it's impossible to learn it. But I think, if you can do it Ryuhou-san, then certainly he can."

"Well the older you are, the harder it becomes to learn a new language."

"Really?" Kanami turned her head and stared at Kazuma sympathetically, as if she was reconsidering all the pushing she had been doing to get him to learn it. Well Kazuma thought, perhaps he was being silly feeling so threatened by Ryuhou. If his superior education could save Kazuma a little grief, then maybe it was all right.

"Yes, that and Kazuma's an idiot."

Kazuma dropped the salt rudely on the table in front of Ryuhou. "What was that asshole?"

The former HOLY officer tilted his head up casually so that he could meet Kazuma's gaze, "I said you're an idiot."

"Well let's see who's smarter when I crack your skull open--"

Kanami smacked the table hard with a heavy metal spoon, she wasn't a child anymore, she wasn't going to put up with this again. "Stop it. Kazuma sit down."

With a brief 'hmph' Kazuma moved away. He grabbed his chair casually and dragged it to the other side of the table so that he was sitting as far away from Ryuhou as possible. Childish of course, but he wasn't beyond being childish when he was denied all other outlets for his anger.

"We're having dinner," Kanami announced firmly. "Which means no fighting."

"Where is it Kazuma?"

Kazuma looked up at Ryuhou's reflection in the small shabby mirror hanging over his dresser. It was right behind his own reflection, the reflection that always seemed to him a shell of it's former self, dead and tired. "I told you, I don't remember. Do you think I'm lying?"

"I certainly wouldn't put it past you."

"I assume that the location of the stupid thing does not determine the fate of the rest of the world? Nor is it information that is critical to the independence of the Lost Grounds?"

"No ... it's personal."

"Yeah ... I was told as much about it."

_There was a distant clinking sound that echoed through the back of his mind. It was such a soft sound ... without rhythm, the light purr of metal sliding over metal. He shifted a little, wanting to roll over but not being able to disregard the constant throbbing in his arm even in the warm blanket of unconsciousness. The sound of metal tumbled softly, making a little sound like sparkling raindrops and he felt something cold brush his skin. _

_He groaned ... he couldn't help it, his arm hurt so much. He had overdone it yet again, and perhaps all things considered he was extremely fortunate to be alive. His thoughts drifted to Ryuhou on instinct, but could not recall what kind of condition the other man had been left in... _

_They had ran into each other again. _

_There had been a fight. _

_Things got pretty messy. _

_As he reached down to touch the swollen gash in his chest and the tender deep bruises around his torso he corrected himself, **very messy**. _

_And that was all he could remember... _

_His senses were slowly returning to him, enough for his mind to flash an instant conclusion without having to see it. He was shackled to something, the cold metal feeling and soft sound was a length of chain brushing against his back, the tight surrounding embrace on his wrists and his neck was a thick collar of steal. _

_Great... _

_He opened his eyes, the lighting was too bright to be a HOLY cell even though-- were he in the condition to do so-- Ryuhou would have dragged his carcass back to HOLD like a cat bringing a mouse proudly to its master. The man was like his Alter, bounded, restrained, controlled. No arms, a masked face and metal ribbons that could strike with terrible efficiency. Directly to the point ... yes, people definitely were like their Alters. Ryuhou was what one would call a civilized man, driven to civility to an insane degree Kazuma figured. Did he have any idea how hard it was to push him past his rules and justice? Even so consumed by hate, he was still the type of man Kazuma hated. He loathed the very thought of becoming a man who spirit was restrained. _

_No ... that wasn't how human beings were supposed to be, empty shells chained by rules and codes. Humans were suppose to fight. _

_This was not Ryuhou's style. _

_So if not HOLY ... then what? There were slave traders roaming the lands of the Lost Grounds outside the city, but not even the most ignorant slave trader would pick up an obvious Alter User. And he was certain, that if nothing else, that the state he was in when he passed out made it obvious he was an Alter User _

_He blinked, and slave traders certainly wouldn't be kind enough to find him a bed. Well ... not a bed precisely, but an old mattress covered with sheets and blankets. Still, it was better than what he had at home in many regards _

_He had enough slack on his chains to sit up and rub his eyes. They chuckled playfully as the links clanked together, perhaps the foolish things were laughing at him. What kind of Alter User can be kept like this anyway? Steel was among the strongest of metals, but that made little difference when atoms shifted under his touch. _

_He looked around the room-- nothing much to it aside from the mattress on the floor he had found himself on ... a small table across the room with another smaller mat, but little else. There was no one here, captor or fellow prisoner a like. He felt it might be time to go, as much as he wanted to confront his captor he was in pretty bad shape. _

_Metal opened up easily to him, he just reached out to it on instinct. He couldn't explain the process really, it was just something that happened. Or should have happened at least, instead he found himself recoiling in the face of a pain so sharp he had to bite his lip to keep his cry down to a low grunt. His arm went completely stiff as if it had suddenly been turned to stone, but he was denied the luxury of numbness. _

_No, his body had decided, that was not happening _

_So he was staying for now... _

_He had twisted himself towards the wall; no matter how hard he tried he could not get the muscles in his arm to relax. His already injured arm was rebelling against him, a master that had been so abusive in so many ways. Although he could tell his Alter was destroying him, he wouldn't stop ... maybe he had betrayed his body, maybe it had a right to betray him now. _

_Kazuma barely felt the two fingers on his torture forearm through all the pain, but the cooling touch brought instant relief that flooded through him. In a sudden cold flash the pain was gone. _

_He gasped at the almost disarmingly sudden release and reared about like a caged and defensive animal. _

_"You... You're that woman from before..." Recognition was instantaneous. His body relaxed and he settled out of his battle posture into one that was more comfortable and better suited the little threat she posed to him. _

_"Sherrice Adjourni" she frowned. "HOLY officer, communication's divis--" _

_"Yeah, yeah ... don't go on about it like that." Kazuma sighed. "I really don't have the patience to listen to a woman like you now." _

_She yanked hard on the chain around his neck, smacking him back down and nearly choking him. _

_Kazuma gagged, coughing violently to shake the strain on his throat. He growled and dug his nails into the soft cloth below him. She may be a woman ... but in order to be in HOLY she must have some form of Alter... So then maybe she should learn to deal with the consequences of her actions just the same as if she were-- _

_"You're 'the Alter User who will do any job for money' right?" _

_"What about it?" _

_"NP3228--" _

_He grabbed her with his left hand by the collar. When he was angry, he always found himself overlooking the large insults in favor for the smaller things of which he seemed to be much more sensitive to. He was not concerned that she had chained him to the wall. "Don't call me that, that's not my goddamn name." _

_"I have a job for you." _

_If nothing else he was distantly impressed by her continence. She was not afraid of him, not in the slightest. True it made him want to show her that he was not to be underestimated, not to be labeled or categorized ... but for a woman, he could respect it just a little. _

_When the full weight of what she had said was realized he released her and laughed as much as his body would let him for the moment. "Crazy woman..." _

_"Are you saying you're not the Alter criminal that will do anything for money?" _

_"That depends, is HOLY manufacturing crime now?" _

_She sat back on her heels and let go of the chain around his neck. "This is not a HOLY operation, it's a personal one." _

_"I see ... that's why we're here then, instead of in HOLD headquarters." _

_"Yes." _

_"What's the job?" _

_She regarded him carefully, not taking any measures to hide her skepticism or her low opinion. "So you'll do it?" _

_He shrugged with a sly smile: he be a fool if he didn't find the turn of events amusing and an outright idiot if he didn't at least examine this opportunity to settle his score with HOLY. The vehicle for revenge was unique and ironic, but there's no better method of revenge is there? "Depends what it is." _

_"I want you to return that disk you helped to steal before." _

_Ah Jesus he should have seen that one coming. He groaned and rubbed his forehead. "You're pretty thick skulled over their aren't you? I. Don't. Know. Where. It. Is." _

_"Then find it," Sherrice insisted. _

_"If HOLY wants it so bad, let HOLY use their resources to find it." _

_"We're not allowed to. We've been ordered to leave things as they are." _

_He blinked, "oh? Then what's the problem--" _

_"Whatever's on that disk is very important to Ryuhou, but he won't disregard orders to find it... You'll be paid well." _

_He didn't need that, the opportunity to best Ryuhou even in something this small was temptation enough. The money just sweetened the deal. Jobs were getting pretty scarce now that things were getting turbulent among the Inners. Their cabinets were going bare back home, and Kanami could not do enough work on the farm to earn food that wasn't available. _

_There was really no reason not to._

He couldn't get a good grip on the breath in his throat. It kept slipping out of his lungs in tiny airy gasps ... slippery and hot ... his muscles trying to hold pace with the rest of his body, yet seemingly unable to keep his need for oxygen satisfied.

He wasn't really sure why it was happening, or even if it was right that it should happen, but he couldn't bring himself to stop it. He felt better than he had in months. He felt alive and warm and ... overwhelmed by a pulsating need to fight, to win and to reach the release that such things brought.

"... I swear to God if you stop I'll kill you."

Ryuhou snorted, "as if you could."

Kazuma craned his neck up, "you wanna go?" he challenged, boldly drawing his hand into a fist. Their fight had turned into this, it could easily go back. And he felt he could probably be happy with either way.

As long as it didn't stop. As long as things didn't go back to the stagnating peace, he could be happy with things either way.

Ryuhou's hand slipped up his throat, grabbing his jaw with an almost possessive causality. He kissed more with his teeth and tongue than his lips, rough and shaky as if he was breathing through them. Kazuma didn't mind, there were certain things only a man can understand about another, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to fight back. On the contrary, he knew that this was not a digression of love, nor affection, nor even attraction really, this was about the fight. They had successfully exhausted all the conventional ways and means of fighting long ago, and they had nothing left save for surrendering to a pointless cycle that would make both of them miserable or finding new methods.

Either way, the conflict was all based on the same shaking foundation, they had plenty desire to fight but no desire to bring harm. Not anymore at least.

After a while the life have been drained out of their battles. Kazuma could not help-- even with the passionate anger boiling up inside himself at the very sight of Ryuhou-- being taunted by the possibility that any one of those battles could be an end. That one of them would have given all that was left to give and that there would finally be a winner.

There may have been a time once when that thought wasn't quite so scary. Although the concept of final supreme victory was a seductive one in principle, he knew that what he really loved was the struggle. He knew that neither one of them would stop, that only death would admit defeat ... and perhaps even then...

Although he loathed to admit it, a part of him had become fond of Ryuhou. It was only a tentative affection for the feeling of companionship and understanding ... trust and hot blooded excitement that he felt occasionally in the other man's company. But it was enough for Kazuma to know, even in the mist of the rage Ryuhou could build him up into, that he didn't really want to kill him.

Maybe beat the living daylights out of him, but not kill or likewise be in any way responsible for the circumstances that might lead to death. And he knew that should it turn out that way, it really would hurt quite a bit to lose him.

In fact, he'd probably never get over it.

Once he had realized that, his will to risk the pain for a fleeting battle faded. And in a very real sense Kazuma had been defeated through death. His physical body had survived but a part of him was dead and gone. It wouldn't get up to fight anymore.

Kanami took him back so easily... And when he suggested that they let Ryuhou worry about the Lost Ground's independence and just leave, she didn't bother to ask him why he would do such a hypocritical thing.

He hadn't asked himself either. He grabbed Ryuhou's shoulder roughly and threw him off, pinning his arms to the ground as he leaned over the dark haired man. "Don't touch me like that."

"Will you make up your mind you already?"

"Who said I changed my mind huh? You just don't have the right to touch me like that."

"We'll see."

Kazuma opened his eyes slowly-- or eye at least-- everything hurt, literally everything. What had happened last night had been ... interesting to say the least. Sex with Ryuhou apparently was almost exactly like fighting with Ryuhou, violent, angry, exciting, painful...

_For both of them_ Kazuma was proud to admit. Still ... the incident had not been entirely unpleasant. He had actually kind of enjoyed it in some ridiculously perverse way, and he felt strangely satisfied. Not just in 'that way' but...

After a certain length of exposure to battle and struggle, soldiers can only be soldiers. Ryuhou had long passed that point, and he could not help finding the life Mimori or even his own family offered him dissatisfying. Kazuma was the same way. This, a battle without the moral weight of mass destruction, a battle without drastic consequence, a battle in which-- oddly enough they both seemed to win and lose at the same time-- was satisfying. It felt good to have someone who understood all that.

Slowly, and taking great care not to let his movements make a sound he reached over towards the dark haired man sleeping silently beside him. He pushed a lock of hair away from the skin of his neck and calmly, gently, wrapped his fingers around Ryuhou's throat.

Ryuhou's eyes snapped open as his hand slid under Kazuma and threw him clear off the bed. Kazuma landed with a harsh clumsy "thump"-- his normal cat like graces apparently not kicking in on time.

"Ow! Watch it!" he shouted as he pulled himself off the floor.

"If you don't want to be splattered against the wall, don't try to kill me in my sleep."

"I wasn't trying to kill you I was trying to strangle you, pay back for last night."

Ryuhou shot him an incredulous look.

"There's a difference, were _you_ trying to kill me?"

"...yes."

"Well that's just cold Ryuhou. Not like you could kill me, but still, cold. I'm almost hurt."


	3. On a Leash

Chapter 3: On a Leash. 

"Hey..." 

Ryuhou looked up from buttoning up his uniform-- or what had once been a uniform at least. The organization had dissolved years ago and the fabric had been frayed and torn several times over. Mending it further would be pointless ... but it had a certain symbolic value to him that he couldn't seem to part with. 

He had worn it today because it marked something that the past had left behind. Something buried in the dust of a fallen city. Something that he wanted back as a matter of security. 

Kazuma was still in bed, making no effort to get dressed or even move out of the little rout he had made for himself. A simple nest of sheets and blankets curled around a gentle grove in the mattress made the perfect little hole for Kazuma to nestle himself in. It might have been the picture of perfect contention if his one good eye wasn't watching Ryuhou with a hawk like sharpness. How long he had been watching Ryuhou didn't know for certain. 

He supposed it shouldn't bother him that Kazuma was staring, not after what had happened at least. 

"What?" 

"What's on that disk anyway?" 

"That's none of your concern." 

"Then why is it important? HOLY doesn't exist anymore." 

"It's not about HOLY..." 

He turned away and set about trying to find his shoes. They had gotten tossed off somewhere around the bed but hell if he could find them. He could feel Kazuma's gaze following him as he looked under the bed and around the room. It was becoming irritating; he knew the other man was thinking something he probably wanted to say, but instead of actually saying it he was just staring. 

Ryuhou looked up coldly, making eye contact with the troublesome Native Alter for a few harsh seconds. He meant to discourage Kazuma's attention, but that's not what happened. 

"You could stay." 

It was so sincere it threw Ryuhou off a bit. "What?" 

"You could stay," Kazuma repeated, a little rougher than before, revealing a little less of his implications. "It might help jog my memory." 

He could stay, if only because he couldn't keep baby-sitting the Lost Grounds forever and he felt confident that their independence had been secured. In fact he had felt a little useless for a long time now; had his protection still really been necessary he would not have wasted time tracking Kazuma down. 

But he knew better than to believe the justification Kazuma was giving him. Either he remembered where he put the disk or he did not, Ryuhou's company was not likely to change anything. The deception annoyed him, even if he understood how proud and shy Kazuma really was. 

"Why would I want to stay here?" 

Honestly, he had not meant that to sound as mean as it did. And he immediately regretted it. Kazuma was the only one who knew where what he wanted was, and it would have been wiser just to humor him a bit. 

Too late for that... 

Kazuma clicked him tongue and turned up his nose. "Geez first you won't _leave_ and now this ... you're just trying to make things difficult for me." 

Kazuma played it cool, but his eyes had gone sharp and aggressive as soon as he had heard Ryuhou's response. He pushed away the bedding with a look on him that made it obvious that what Ryuhou had awaken was not Kazuma but Kazuma's fighting mood. Perhaps the only reason he had not tried to rip Ryuhou's throat out already was because time had lulled that wild spirit into hibernation. 

"All right," Kazuma voice was low and purred through the air in dark sort of sigh. "You want to play it this way, fine. I don't know where your stupid disk is so get the hell out of my house." 

It was in the way Kazuma was standing that Ryuhou figured that wasn't a command but an invitation to do precisely the opposite. To fight. 

"I want that disk back," Ryuhou voiced hissed out of his gritted teeth. 

"Yeah well there are a lot of things I want back that I'm not getting back Ryuhou, deal with it." 

"Your irritating attitude is going to destroy this place." 

"Not if I break your neck before you can touch me." 

"A guy of your pathetic talents couldn't stand a chance against me." 

"Funny, my pathetic talents weren't an issue last time." 

His red eyes were seething, "you..." Somewhere down the line Ryuhou had forgotten that Kazuma was deliberately picking a fight with him. Or he remembered and just didn't care. 

For all his boasting Kazuma had fought Ryuhou enough to know they were equally matched. A clever man would take the opportunity to have the advantage the instance it was presented. Kazuma may not have been a clever man, but that didn't stop him from pouncing and slamming Ryuhou into the wall. 

It was a battle instinct. 

One hand wrapped strongly around Ryuhou's neck and the other pinned the HOLY officer's right arm down, Kazuma felt the raw buzz of control exciting him. This was it ... he was going to beat Ryuhou this time. He loved this feeling, he needed this feeling. The fight, he needed the rush of control and victory. The feeling of struggle and dominance made him feel _alive_ in a life that offered him only fading into obscurity. 

He was holding the other man just short of choking him. Ryuhou's breathing was slow and deep, indicating that he was having a little difficulty breathing and that he found this uncomfortable. But he made no move to free himself, his red eyes bored into Kazuma almost daring him in a critical and contemptful way. 

Kazuma didn't like it, it made him think Ryuhou was about to out smart him-- although he couldn't see how. He pressed Ryuhou into the door, which rattled a little at his force, and stared back just as hard. 

"I'd kill you if I didn't hate you so much." 

"Ditto," Ryuhou replied as best he could before his free hand reached and turned the doorknob, sending them both tumbling out of the bedroom. 

Kazuma landed in a rather odd position. On his shoulder, half on top of Ryuhou and half off, his head tucked in as to make him feel like he was upside down. Both of them had landed right at Kanami's feet, a slow glance revealed her obvious scowl and the heavy metal soup ladle resting in her hands like a baseball bat. 

"You shouldn't fight." 

Kanami was so scary when she was being stern. The two of them climbed off of each other like naughty puppies caught in the act. 

"Kazu-kun." 

"Aaa?" he asked as he carefully sliced potatoes for dinner. Normally he left the kitchen chores to Kanami, but today he needed to find a space where the likelihood of even catching a hint of Ryuhou's presence was greatly reduced. Ryuhou disliked women's work, Kazuma didn't mind it so much ... so the kitchen it was. 

"Ryuhou-san is leaving tonight." 

Yes, and he would have left immediately if Kanami had not managed to wrangle him into staying for dinner. Kazuma wasn't pleased about it, but he couldn't fault Kanami for being hospitable. Ryuhou wasn't such a horrible person that he deserved her scorn, he was actually a pretty honorable guy. 

It's just he was such an asshole... 

"Yeah." 

And he might have muttered 'good riddance' or something similar in addition had she not remarked "you should go with him." 

Kazuma nearly cut off his finger. "What?" 

"You should go," she said again with a little more assertion. "You took something that's his, it your responsibility to see it returned. Besides you're not happy here." 

"Don't be silly of course--" 

She gave him a 'look' that silenced the polite lie. All right so he _wasn't_ happy there, but where had he ever been happy? Was there any land on Earth that could give him back the people he'd lost or the things he had made for himself back then? The place where he could be happy was a place in time not space. The likelihood that he would find any shadow of it again in the Lost Grounds were just as small as if he looked for it here. 

Of course he did not contest the part about his responsibility. He hated being at fault for someone else's loss, the muted feelings of guilt were even worse when he had faulted someone who annoyed him as much as Ryuhou did. It almost made Ryuhou seem like he had a justification for being such a prick, and to hell if Kazuma was going admit to even that possibility. 

"You're not happy with him no," Kanami conceded as much. "But you're a lot less sullen." 

"Well yeah, he pisses me off." 

The fine edges of a smile curled up on her lips and for a moment Kazuma worried about how faithful and detailed her Alter's gaze was. He was more than aware that her Alter peered onto the depths of human consciousness and that it seemed fixated on _his_ consciousness in particular ... and of course Ryuhou was her second favorite consciousness to wander through, but she couldn't possibly know about last night... 

At least he hoped to God she didn't know. Not that he was ashamed of it or anything, it was just ... this was Kanami! His Kanami! He didn't want to think about what she thought about it if she did know. 

"I'll be fine here on my own Kazu-kun." If nothing else she seemed to detect his concern for her. If she understood the true directions of Kazuma's thoughts she was being very tactful not to let on to it. "I'm not a child anymore, and even when I was a child I looked after myself just fine." 

Technically Kanami was 11, which made her _very much_ still a child. Of course Kazuma had been on his own at her age and he had left her to fend for herself in the Lost Grounds for days at a time when she had been only 8. He was really in no position to argue with her about the question of her dependency on him, but it was his only path of resistance. 

"Something could happen--" 

"This is not the Kazu-kun I love. Of course I want you here, but how can I allow you to stay here if that person I love-- my Kazu-kun, the one who always kept me safe, who always came when there was trouble, the one who struggled so bravely to find his truth-- dies out because of it?" She had placed her smaller, softer hands on either side of his face as if trying to fix his thoughts so they could not move away from her words. "You should go, because you might not be happy there but all the things that you are can resurface at least." 

"Kanami..." 

He had no words with which to argue with that. So it was as good as settled. 

"Honestly ... what I wouldn't give to kick you in the head." 

Ryuhou didn't bother to turn around, he was determined not to let Kazuma get under his skin this time. He wasn't going to let that infuriating trash goad him into anything stupid again and he knew that his temper was always what gave Kazuma exactly what he wanted in the end. Of course it was also quite clear that Kazuma wasn't worth wasting his time on, not when he had something so precise to find and impossible odds against him. 

Much to Ryuhou's dislike, Kazuma continued to wander aimlessly around his point. "I mean, you always turn up when things in my life had just gotten comfortable and screw everything up." 

"I could say the same about you as well." 

Kazuma paused and bit his lip thoughtfully, although Ryuhou doubted this was anything that hadn't occurred to Kazuma before. Which meant that Kazuma was being coy, and that was something that Ryuhou always took particular care to observe carefully because it meant he was up to something for certain. Being coy, or tactful for that matter, was contrary to Kazuma's sense of pride and honor. 

So this was undoubtedly going to be a doozy. 

"There's a old stadium, or what used to be one ages ago anyway, in the Lost Grounds. It was nothing more than ruins when Kimishima and I crashed there on our way back from a job, by now it's probably little more than bricks and rubble. 

"Anyway, there, in an old locker ... that's where your disk is." 

Ryuhou could not withhold his surprise at the casualness of this revelation. He doubted it was the point of Kazuma's conversation to begin with. Kazuma was not a charitable person as far as he was concerned, if his intention had only been to tell Ryuhou the location of his disk he probably would have made a whole lot more fuss about it. 

Clearly there are a catch to this information. 

"I'll never be able to find that," Ryuhou finally said. 

"Yeah ... I suppose it can't be helped then." 

"What can't be?" 

"I'm going back with you." 

_Kazuma wondered if he could possibly find a way to push his hard-hat down so that people on the farm Kanami enjoyed working at wouldn't recognize him. Afterall if they didn't recognize him they couldn't make comments about what a lazy, worthless 'husband' he was. And that ... well sort of embarrassed him. _

Plus he always felt like he was under the critical eye of everyone here. It seemed like they were just waiting for him to make a mistake on some days. Just waiting to complain to Kanami about how different they were, and how good she was for putting up with him. 

He didn't feel welcome here. 

"Yoohoo Kazu-kun," the voice of just the man he'd been waiting to see called to him from where his trashy excuse for a car had been parked. Kimishima was sitting casually on the homey wooden fence that separated the "farmland" from the rest of wasteland. Probably not a smart thing to do really ... Kazuma didn't trust it's craftsmanship and wouldn't be surprised if the thing collapsed under him. 

He took off the hard-hat he wore and slipped away from the barn raising he was assisting in, or trying to at least. Kimishima always seemed to lift his spirits just with his presence as the one person who really accepted him and had any kind of faith in his abilities. Other than Kanami of course, but then Kanami was just a kid she was really good at turning a blind eye to his faults. Kimishima saw those faults clear as day and still put his life on the line with every job, trusting that Kazuma to come back successful. It was that kind of faith that inspired a sense of loyalty in Kazuma and loyalty was something he felt he desperately needed to keep him from going crazy. Fighting blindly may keep him from getting hurt, but without something to fight for the emptiness of his life just seemed to wear him away. So he put his faith in his loyalty to the people he cared about and fought for them even if they didn't stand to benefit from the battles he won. 

"Kimishima," he greeted. 

"You called?" the wily haired man grinned with his thick dirty wool coat that was at least three sizes too big dragging dully in the wind. 

"Yeah--" 

"Sorry Kazuma I know this place isn't exactly up to your tastes in employment but I don't have anything better for you." 

"It's not that," Kazuma snorted as he swung himself up next to Kimishima. The poor fence whined and maybe even swayed a little under their combined weight. Kazuma was now sure the damn thing was going to collapse. "I need to know something." 

Kimishima seemed to follow his line of thinking and together they opted off the fence and settled instead in the car. Kimishima's car was hardly what one would call a luxury model, hell it was hardly what one would call a **car** in the first place except that it had four wheels, two seats a steering wheel and a motor. It didn't compare to the cars he had seen in the city when he had been a guest of HOLD world renowned hospitality, but the seats were soft enough for them the relax and talk business. 

"What kind of information?" 

"That last job I pulled. I need to know who the client was." 

He did not expect Kimishima to take that well, and he didn't. Of course he didn't blow him off outright either so things were going okay so far. Kimishima just lifted up the pair of cheap sunglasses he'd bought or stolen from a street market somewhere and considered Kazuma's request earnestly. It would not have been a stretch to say that he was suspicious, but then it would not be because he suspected Kazuma of betraying him. Kimishima just knew that sometimes Kazuma was a cocky moron who might not realize when he was about to do something stupid. "We don't usually deal like that," he commented, letting his newly acquired shades fall back down on the bridge of his nose. "Why do you want to know?" 

"I've got an outside job to take care of." 

Kimishima looked hurt, whether he actually was or not was hard to tell. Certainly he understood that Kazuma had to find work in these hard times where ever he could. "you're doing business with other agents now? And I thought we were a team. I don't suppose this is something lawful Ms Kanami setup?" 

"No this one came to me directly." 

"Directly?" 

He told the whole story then, because Kimishima had worked very hard to keep Kazuma's exact identity a secret from their clients and because he might as well know the truth. Kazuma was going to rely on Kimishima's help for a bit more than just information. 

"Are you working both sides now Kazuma? That's a dangerous path." 

"No of course not, don't be stupid ... do I look like someone who would sympathize with HOLD?" 

"You don't look like a lot of things," Kimishima pointed out. "It wouldn't be a first time anyone here was betrayed by someone they were close to." 

Kazuma frowned, well that was probably the inevitable assumption. They at least had to acknowledge it, but he had been hoping the question of his motives wouldn't come up. Still Kimishima wouldn't be nearly as good with what he did if he didn't think about these things. "It's complicated," he grunted. 

"Well it's the price of the information. Be thankful, you're getting an employee discount." 

"It's a bit of an insurance policy." 

"Like I believe that. Since when did the Shell Bullet need anything as cowardly as an---" 

"It's not for me you idiot," Kazuma snapped. "But think about it, this disk has something important on it. Even if it's nothing that HOLD thinks is of any value it's important to Ryuhou who seemed to be in one way or another rather important in HOLY. That girl ... actually now that I think of it ... both of those girls and the other HOLY officers are loyal in him. It's for Kanami, because I'm not stupid there are more of them then I can fight through. When it's just my life I have to worry about it's no problem..." 

"But should they get her..." 

"Yeah... he track me to our house looking for it. It was only luck that he didn't find out about her." 

"I see," Kimishima sighed. "Forward thinking for once Kazuma, I'm impressed. Really I am." 

"Shutup.." Kazuma grumbled. 

"I don't like it though. We've spent a lot of time and energy building up a reputation. A reputation that brings in a lot of work. This risks all of that. Are people going to trust you to do the dirty work if they think you might be in HOLD's pocket?" 

Kazuma slouched down in his seat with a heavy sigh and scowled darkly at him. "I know that! I won't use my Alter all right? We'll just make it a quiet well planned hit." 

" 'We'll' do this will we?" 

"Well of course, how else am I to do this all by myself without my Alter?" 

Kimishima chuckled, "you're helpless Kazuma. But I suppose if I was crazy enough to try to bust you out of the city before I'm crazy enough for this." 

"That's what I thought to." 

"Hey, watch it." 


End file.
